Baked tagliatelle nests with ragù and provola, an elegant first course to bring to the table, easy to prepare and delicious in flavor — a rich dish perfect for Sunday lunch, special occasions and holidays; also great for Easter lunch, with this pretty nest shape given to the tagliatelle, a pasta nest filled with ragù and gooey provola. The tagliatelle are not baked raw: they are quickly pre-cooked first for a truly perfect result. In the oven they will absorb flavor and become an indulgent dish the whole family will love.
Also try the conchiglioni stuffed with ragù or the baked cannelloni with meat and spinach.
At my house they were super appreciated — my husband even went back for seconds, he who is always hard to please and who loves simple things. As he says, light and tasty; usually the same line every evening, but this time I won him over even at lunch with a dish that is not among his favorites. He would have preferred classic tagliatelle with ragù (pasta drained and tossed with ragù), but this time he had to admit he liked it — so he’ll learn to appreciate that I like to put something different on the table.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 5 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Oven, Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Easter, All seasons
Ingredients for baked tagliatelle nests with ragù
- 1.1 lb fresh egg tagliatelle
- 3.3 lb ragù (meat sauce)
- 5.3 oz provola or mozzarella
- 1.4 oz Grana Padano PDO
- 6.3 cups tomato passata
- 1.1 lb ground meat
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- to taste onion
- to taste salt
- to taste nutmeg
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
Tools to prepare the tagliatelle nests with ragù and provola
- 2 Pots
- Baking dish
- Colander
- 1 Knife
- 1 Food chopper
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Ladle
Preparation of baked tagliatelle nests with ragù and provola
Prepare the ragù in advance, at least a couple of hours before. Follow the basic recipe for a good meat ragù, or if you prefer a Bolognese ragù. In short: using a food chopper, finely chop the vegetables, sweat them in a little oil, add the meat and brown it, deglaze with wine; when it has evaporated add the passata, a little water, salt and nutmeg, and simmer gently for at least one hour from boiling, even an hour and a half.
Put water on to cook the pasta al dente. Place a large pot with plenty of water on the stove — about 4 cups for every 3.5 oz (100 g) of pasta. Salt and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta al dente, or slightly undercooked. Drain. If you want to make homemade tagliatelle, here is the recipe for homemade egg tagliatelle.
Drain the pasta — egg tagliatelle — and toss with the ragù, reserving some ragù to fill the nests. Also add some diced provola and grated cheese, and mix.
Put some ragù in a baking dish, a couple of full ladles. Use kitchen tongs to form nests of pasta, and place them in the baking dish. Make the nests fairly large so each is a generous portion.
Widen the nests slightly in the pan, top each with ragù — a couple of tablespoons per nest — add more diced provola, and finally sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake in a hot oven at 392–410°F for about 15 minutes. At that point, turn off the oven and leave the nests inside for at least 5 minutes before serving the baked tagliatelle nests with ragù and provola.
You can make the same recipe with spaghetti or other long pasta; you can enrich the dish by adding zucchini, potatoes, peas — any vegetables you like — just sauté them in a pan and add them to the pasta.
Baked pasta, as usual, can be kept in the fridge for the next day and served reheated; in fact it will be even better.
